Netwomen Top Princeton Clinch Tie for Ivy Title

Things didn't look too well for the Harvard women's tennis squad at the outset of yesterday's Ivy showdown with Princeton. After all, the Tigers had history on their side.

But a young Crimson squad made a little history of its own yesterday at the Palmer Dixon Tennis Courts, scoring Harvard's first-ever win over the Tigers and clinching with it a tie for its first-ever Ivy championship.

When sophomore Captain Deborah Kaufman and freshman Erika Smith walked off the court following their 6-3, 6-2 trouncing of Princeton's number two pair of Jean Weinberg and Susan Whitney, the Crimson camp roared in applause of the culmination of Harvard's most successful season to date.

The netwomen had entered the doubles competition in front, 4-2, and needed only one victory to polish off the Tigers for a while it seemed as if the number one doubles tandem of sophomore Elizabeth Evans and junior Maria Pe would play the role of match winners, as they turned in a flawless set of tennis, blanking Joy Cummings and Jan Shel burne, 6-0, in the first set.

But the Princeton duo battled back to win the second set, 6-4, thereby prolonging the anxiety for Crimson Coach Don Usher. "I got a little nervous when the games tightened up in the second set, but Debbie and Erika made a promise to me before spring break that they would go undefeated in doubles, and they did," Usher said. The Crimson's number two team responded by leaving the Tigers in the dust in both sets, while Evans and Pe finished their battle with a 6-4 third set win.

Earlier, the Crimson had set the stage for the upset by winning four out of a possible six singles contests. As with her doubles match. Smith was the first one to leave the court registering a 6-1, 6-2, drubbing of Weinberg.

Pe came up with the Crimson's most inspiring match of the afternoon, bouncing back from a 6-3 first-set loss to overrun Shelburne in the second and third stanzas, 6-0, 6-2. I wasn't concentrating well in the first set." Pe recalled, "but then I felt that if I was going to lose, I would at least hit the ball.

Usher reminded the netwomen's number-two seed that "she was the veteran and that she had been through this before." Pe promptly improved her ground strokes and took the next nine games in a row to clinch the match.

Sophomore Tracy Kunichika also turned in a strong performance, reversing last week's loss to Yale to defeat the Tiger's Robin Rosenberg in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

Junior Erica Shulman supplied the Crimson with its fourth singles victory, slipping past Emily Schuette in a long contest, 7-5, 6-2 Schulman never trailed, and her patient style ultimately wore down Schuette in the close first stanza. In the second set, the Tiger netwoman kept up with Harvard's number-four player until 2-2, but from there. Schulman took charge, blasting winner after winner to take the next four games.

In other singles competition top seeded sophomore Elizabeth Evans lost a tough 4-6, 4-6, contest to Princeton's Cummings, who is ranked twelfth in the nation However. Evans later avenged the loss, teaming with Pe to take the number one doubles match Princeton's other two victories came by way of Hareena Meghani, who defeated sophomore Deanne Loonin, 6-4, 6-3, and the due of Meghani and Schuette, who topped Loonin and freshman Roberta Hing, 7-6, 6-3.

THE NOTEBOOK. The victory over Princeton raised the Crimson's record to 13-7 over all and 5-1 in the Ivies. The Tigers dropped to 13-3. Princeton's only other losses were dealt by Miami and South Carolina, both ranked in the nation's top ten Princeton played without number two player Pia Lamayo, who has played for the Phillipines Federation Cup Team and is currently in jured. Harvard must now await an NCAA committee's decision in hopes of receiving an invitation to the national championship tourney.